"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another"

Comment:

These verses are often used to promote ecumenical unity at any cost. According to this line of thinking, doctrine is not important and it doesn’t matter what one believes in order to be identified as a Christian. While this argument is used in order to promote unity for the sake of unity, this is not what the Bible teaches. Brothers and sisters in Christ should love each other as Christ loved us but we are not to compromise truth for the sake of promoting a lie. For example, what does one do if someone who is a professing Christian says that we should pray to “Mary” and do the rosary every day? The Bible also states that a believer is to contend for the faith. Should one ignore false teaching and join hands with others who have been led astray by false teaching. Certainly we are to check out the whole council of God using the entire Bible.

Application:

Using one verse to determine doctrine can be misleading. Of course, we are not to hate anyone. The fact remains that all humans fall short of the glory of God and are not perfect. While we need to recognize this principal that does not mean we need to remain silent when we see people who have been misled by false teaching.

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